Monday was perhaps the most hopeful day so far of the COVID pandemic in the U.S., as a Massachusetts biotech company reported a promising vaccine trial, stocks rallied on the news, all but one state were reopening for business, Detroit’s Big Three automakers restarted factories and Delta Airlines announced it will resume flying several major routes next month.
Moderna Inc. reported that the first coronavirus vaccine to be tested in humans appears to be safe and to stimulate an immune response against the virus. Although the study is not complete, some patients who were vaccinated developed antibodies at levels mirroring recovered COVID-19 patients.
“We’re quite pleased with the breadth of the immune response so far,” company president Dr. Stephen Hoge said on “CBS This Morning.”
Major stock indexes soared on the development. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 911 points, or 3.8%, to close at 24,597 — its best day since early April. The S&P 500, which gained 3.1%, hit a 10-week high.
At the White House, President Trump called it “a very positive day,” saying he believes the nation has turned a corner from economic shutdowns due to the pandemic.
“This was a very big day therapeutically, vaccine-wise and cure-wise,” Mr. Trump said during a meeting with restaurant executives. “It almost feels like today is the first day. Last week didn’t feel the same. Now it feels good. People are starting to go out there, opening. They get it.”
The president also made the starting disclosure that he is taking daily doses of hydroxycholoroquine, the anti-malarial drug that received emergency authorization from the FDA as a treatment COVID-19 patients. Its effectiveness has not been established.
“I’ve been taking it for about a week-and-a-half now, and I’m still here,” Mr. Trump said. “There’s a very good chance this has an impact.”
Across the nation, all states but Connecticut had loosened stay-at-home restrictions by Monday. In Florida, retail stores, gyms and restaurants returned to 50% capacity, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis gave the green light for professional sports teams to use Florida stadiums when they’re ready.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, said Monday that he’s given up trying to push through any more statewide mandates to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus because he thinks rival Republicans would never allow any restrictions after the state Supreme Court erased his stay-at-home order.
Gov. Greg Abbott continued to reopen Texas, announcing that daycares can reopen immediately and that bars and bowling alleys can start at 25% capacity on Friday. The Republican governor also said youth centers, including Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCAs, must open up to keep children occupied as their parents return to work.
Restaurants can expand their capacity to 50% on Friday, while youth sports and camps will resume on May 31.
Some major industries also began to gear up again. Detroit’s three automakers and their suppliers began restarting assembly lines on Monday after being shuttered for two months, a fresh sign of recovery for an industry that employs about 1 million American workers.
Fiat Chrysler reopened four vehicle assembly plants and four parts plants. GM is reopening several plants on one shift, including a total of 3,200 hourly workers making pickup trucks at factories in Flint, Michigan, and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Delta Air Lines said it would resume flying several major routes in June, including some trans-Atlantic and Caribbean destinations.
As governors lift restrictions and more employees return to work, Americans’ collective mood is lifting, too. Gallup reported Monday that less than half of U.S. adults, 47%, now say they are worried a lot, down from 59% in late March/early April, when the pollster recorded an unprecedented increase in “self-reported worry.”
Gallup also found that boredom has dipped five points, to 41%, and “happiness has edged up five points, to 72%.” The survey was conducted from April 27 to May 10, as many states started easing stay-at-home orders and business restrictions.
One sector of the economy with plenty of worry is the restaurant business, which lost 5.5 million jobs in April, about one-fourth of all job losses nationally last month. Several industry chiefs called on Mr. Trump in a White House meeting to extend the federal “Paycheck Protection Program” from the current eight weeks to 24 weeks to keep their employees on the payroll.
The restaurant executives weren’t asking for more money; restaurants have received about $30 billion from the roughly $650 billion PPP. But they said they need a longer period in which to pay workers, as restaurants gradually phase back into operation under tighter restrictions on social distancing and seating capacity.
Mr. Trump supported the proposal, and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said there is bipartisan support in Congress for an extension.
The president also said restaurants should be given a shield from lawsuits over employees and patrons suing if they contract COVID at a reopened restaurant.
“The Democrats do not want to give that [liability shield] to people. It’s crazy,” Mr. Trump said.
Marvin Irby, interim CEO of the National Restaurant association, said the positive news about Moderna’s vaccine trial gave his industry a welcomed shot in the arm.
“We desperately want to reopen,” he told the president. “Before today’s news, we did not see an end date until later this year.”
Dr. Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna, said the interim Phase 1 data “demonstrate that vaccination…elicits an immune response of the magnitude caused by natural infection starting with a dose as low as 25 [micrograms].”
The Moderna study is being conducted in concert with the National Institutes of Health. The Phase 1 study included 45 people ages 18-55. The study was split so that 15 participants took a low dose, 15 took a mid-level dose, and 15 took a high dose.
Dr. Hoge said eight subjects appeared to have gotten to the point where the antibodies could neutralize the virus and prevent its ability to infect human cells.
“We’re quite pleased with the breadth of the immune response so far,” Dr. Hoge said on “CBS This Morning.”
Mr. Hoge said Moderna’s phase-1 study involved “relatively small number” of participants but that the company will be looking at 600 people as part of a Phase 2 study that should start soon.
The company said it hopes to proceed to a Phase 3 trial in July.
“Our goal is to have a vaccine available for broad distribution by year-end or early next year,” Dr. Hoge said.
A vaccine is considered the most critical step in reopening global economies that have been battered by the virus.
Since its discovery in China in December, the virus has infected over 4.8 million people and killed over 315,000 worldwide. The U.S. has recorded nearly 1.5 million infections and almost 90,000 deaths.
To get a vaccine out to the masses, a company will have to get its efficacy data “really pinned down” to show the shots are protective, said Michael Mina, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“You have to let people get exposed naturally and do the efficacy studies to see that they’re not getting infected,” he said. “That just takes time. In particular, it’s going to take an increasing amount of time now that social distancing has brought the virus to lower numbers. Of course, now that things are opening up, those studies might be able to be accelerated once they start.”
Dr. Mina said he could see a scenario in which a successful vaccine is given authorization for emergency use in some places, such as nursing homes, before it is generally available to everyone.
Dr. Moncef Slaoui recently resigned from Moderna’s board of directors so he could be the chief scientist for “Operation Warp Speed,” the Trump administration’s newly announced campaign to secure a vaccine by the end of the year.
“I have very recently seen early data from a clinical trial with a coronavirus vaccine,” Dr. Slaoui said last week. “And this data made me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, said Dr. Slaoui needs to divest from any financial interests he might still have in the company.
There were also challenges on Monday as states loosened more restrictions. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday said the state is deploying officials to conduct compliance checks of bars and restaurants and that the businesses could lose their liquor licenses or face criminal action if they aren’t following social distancing rules.
“We saw in some places customers were not following the rules and the people running the bar were not taking responsibility. So both have to do that,” Mr. DeWine said, referring to recent images of crowded bars in the state.
Texas recorded its highest single-day increase of 1,800 on Saturday even as it moves to open up again.
The state has documented over 48,000 cases, including over 1,300 deaths, from COVID-19.
The governor said it is working to address hotspots, including a meatpacking plant in Amarillo.
“As testing increases, so will the raw number of people testing positive,” Mr. Abbott said. “What matters most is the percentage of people who test positive.”
The past month has shown a downward trajectory in the positivity rate, the governor said, although he is advising older Texans to remain cautious.
“The safest strategy for seniors is to continue is to stay at home, if at all possible,” he said.
Officials said their easing of rules will only work if everyday Texans do their part by wearing masks and maintaining distance from others.
“Each Texan must do their part,” said James Huffines, chairman of the governor’s strike force to open Texas.
• This article is based in part on wire-service reports.
